Article January 30, 1937 Issue

Bible Notes

"We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image" (II Cor. 3:18)—The Greek term "katoptrizomenoi," here translated "beholding as in a glass," is constantly employed to mean "reflecting or mirroring" (cf. Souter: Greek Lexicon, p. 131); while the word rendered "open" is more exactly "unveiled" (ibid., p. 15) and implies that while there was once a veil there, it has now been removed (cf. Plummer: Second Corinthians, p. 105). Contrast the statement in verse 15, "The vail is upon their heart." Moreover, the verb translated "changed" means more literally "transformed." Hence, a literal rendering would be: "Now all of us, reflecting the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, are transformed into that very image, (rising) from glory to glory." Moffatt suggests: "But we all mirror the glory of the Lord with face unveiled, and so we are being transformed into the same likeness as himself."

"We ... have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13)—In the best manuscripts of the New Testament which have come down to us through the centuries, including the Sinaitic, Vatican, and Alexandrian codices, the Greek preposition "eis" (here translated "into") is omitted. (Compare Tischendorf: Novum Testamentum Graece, Vol. II, p. 531.) The Revised Version has: "We ... were all made to drink of one Spirit;" while Goodspeed reads: "We have all been saturated with one Spirit;" and Moffatt: "We have all been imbued with one Spirit."

"Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord" (Isa. 40:13)—It is of interest to note that the Hebrew verb "takan," here translated "directed," is the same as that rendered "meted out" in the preceding verse. Its literal meaning is "to regulate, measure, estimate;" and since "ruach" (Spirit) can also be translated "mind" (Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 925, col. 2), we should be justified in rendering: "Who has measured the Mind (or Spirit) of the Lord?" Moffatt has: "Who ever moved the mind of the Eternal;" and Smith: "Who has directed the mind of the Lord."

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